Device for operating doors to elevator-wells



'(No Model.)

2 Sheets Sheet 1. J. B. CRAIG 8v T. W. PURGELL. DEVICE FOR OPERATINGDOORS T0 ELEVATOR WELLS.

No. 461,411. Patented Oct. 13,1891.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. B. CRAIG & T. W. PUROELL. DEVICE FOR OPERATING DOORS T0 ELEVATORWELLS.

No. 461,411.. I Patented Oct. 18,1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. CRAIG AND THOMAS W. PUROELL, oF'sT. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING DOORS TO ELEVATOR-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,411, dated October13, 1891. Application filed May 20, 1891- Serial No. 393,431. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN B. CRAIG and .THoMAs W. PURCELL, both citizensof the United States, and residing at the city of St. Louis, in theState of Missouri, have jointlyinvented a new and useful Improvement inDevices forAutomatically Opening and Closing the Hatchways and Doors ofElevators, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to devices for automatically opening and closingthe exit and entrance doors or gates of elevators used for carryingpassengers or freight, and at the same time open or close the hatchwaysor trap-doors of an elevator-shaft provided on the floor-lines of abuilding containing an elevator, wherein such doors and hatchways areactuatedby sliding them in opening or closing; and the object of ourinvention is to aiford means wherein, by the upward and downwardmovements of the elevator in its well or shaft, the sliding doorsleading to it from the floors, as well as the sliding hatchcoversprovided for safety against accident or fire, maybe alternately openedand closed,

so that the elevator-shaft may be at all times guarded either by closeddoors and hatchways or the presence of the elevator-ear, ready toreceive or discharge passengers or freight at the fioor desired. Weattain these-objects by the devices and mechanism shown by theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a View, partly in sectionand partly in elevation, of aportion of an elevatorshaft containing anelevator and showing our device applied for the purpose of opening andclosing the hatch-covers or trap-doors of a hatehway in the floor of abuilding. Fig. II is a top view showing the hatchway-cover closed. Fig.III is a sectional view showing a roller on which the hatchway-covermoves, with its truck and support. Fig. IV is an elevation of anelevator-car, showing by dotted lines-our opening and closing deviceapplied, with the door open. Fig. V is a similar view showing the sameclosed. Fig. VI is a perspective view of our device applied to thefloor-guards of an elevator, showing portions of the latter broken off.-

B, the elevator shaft or well; B, an upright extending on one side thelength of the well, and B the floor and ceiling,'with the space between,of a story to a building within which the hatch-covers operate, andthese together constitute the frame-work for our invention.

D represents a block attached to the upright B.

O 0 represents angle-bent lever-bars, made of wrought iron or steel,having a V-shaped or forked end to each, as shown by C G, with an eye 0in the other end thereof, to which is pivoted the link 0. For our devicefor operating the sliding hatch-cover E four of the Within angle-bentlever-bars are used, two being placed above the floor and inverted, twobelow the ceiling of the floor below, the downwardly-descending armsabove the floor and the upwardly-extending arms below the ceiling beingapproximately of the length of the opening of the hatchway designed tobe covered.

The hatch-covers are represented by E. They are made square, in twoparts, of light material in wood or iron, and are twice the length ofthe opening they are designed to cover when the hatch is closed. Thesehatchcovers are placed on two or more axles, (represented by 6 Fig.111,) which move on wheels 6, having grooves e between the upper andlower guides or tracks e 6 and are placed on two sides of thehatch-opening between the floor and ceiling, as shown in Fig. I. Theangle-bent arms are fastened to the bracket D at the points old by thepivot-pin c, on

which they move. The short angle-arms of the levers which terminate inthe V-shaped or forked cam-ears are placed opposite one In the dooropening and closing appliance of our invention, as shown in'Figs. IV, V,

and VI, we use two of the forked end and an gle-bent lever-bars, whichare pivotally connected with each other and with the door in theguard-cage at the floor-landing, (see figures last referred to,) theforked end of one being raised slightly higher than that of the other,so as to allow of their passing one another, as shown at 0 Havingprovided a suitable bracket or support on which to hang thelever-operating bars for the door, we connect it pivotally to the doorat the point f by the pivot-pin 0, making a center for thebackward-and-forward motion of the door F on the lever-bearing pivotconnection 0' on the guard above the door, as shown fully in Fig. VI,with the mouth or forked ends of the levers facing toward each other,the one above the other, with a slight angle-sufficient to freely allowa to pass. 'The latter is a pin projection fast ened to the side of theelevator-car next the door approximating the point a Fig. IV, whichpoint should be on a line permitting the pin projection to pass onecam-ear of the lever represented by c and impinge upon the other, thusactuating the lever-arms to open or close the door as the elevatorascends or descends, as the case may be.

It will be readily understood from the drawings how our device operates,viz: as the elevator-car descends on the rope a down the elevator-shaftthe projections 11 0. Fig. I, enter the V-shaped ends of the angle-bentlever-bars C C, and. passing by the first lug or car thereof, strike thesecond, and thus actuate the lever connection with the hatch- Way-coversE E, throwing them back and opening the hatchway at orabout the sametime the projeotingpin a on the opposite side of the elevator-carintercepts the lower ear of the upper lever-bar, (see a Fig. V,) andthe'door is thrown open by the levers, as shown by Fig. IV, just Whenthe elevatorplatform is on a level with the floor. car thencedescending, the pin or roller projections 0, (1 Fig. I, impinge on thelower ear of the upwardly-projecting bent levers C 0 below the ceiling,(see Fig. 1,) which in turn actuate the lever-connection with thehatchcovers and closes them. About the same time the pin projection a onthe opposite side of the elevator-car impinges on the lower ear of theunder lever-arm and operates it to close the door.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the slidable door, the L-shaped levers pivoted attheir angles to the elevator-shaft and having their shorter armsarranged in substantially horizontal planes, with their ends forked andin the same vertical plane, the elevator-car having a single lateralprojection adapted to successively engage the forked ends of the levers,and links connecting the ends of the longer arms of the levers to thedoor.

' JOHN B. CRAIG.

THOS. W. PURCELL.

\Vitnesses:

E. J. OBRIEN,

FRANK LALLY.

The

